A geometric and iridescent light installation at Burning Man 2016 + rewards for contemplating life, the universe, and everything.

About this project

HYBYCOZO – Heart of Gold

If you wish to make apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. – Carl Sagan

Our Vision

This year at Burning Man our vision is to create 3 entirely new sculptures, work with new materials and produce a whole new activation of geometry, light, and shadow.

Entitled TheHeart of Gold, this year’s project is inspired by Leonardo DaVinci’s revolutionary polyhedron drawings, the first to draw complex shapes in perspective, to see both inside and outside angles. We invite you to experience a place where both inside and outside are questioned, leaving you with nothing but the loss of barriers in between, finally discovering the answer to…. life, the universe, and everything.

We are pushing ourselves to create an incredible geometric wonderland that you’ll be able to interact with, dream up new immersive environments, play with the magical phenomena of light, invent inspired objects and smaller works of art for the community… and we want to invite youto be a part of it.

The Community

Since we started this project, it has completely changed our lives. We have completely dedicated our lives to making geometric art and we are grateful to this community for helping us realize these dreams. None of this could have happened without you.

With your support, we’ll be able to make amazing lighting and surprises happen!

We are also grateful to the Burning Man organization for funding a portion of this project, but it is truly this community that makes it possible. We have dedicated crew of 10, have brought on an adorable electrical engineer, and have consulted with a structural engineer about the project. We are all super passionate and dedicated to creating a wonderful experience for the Burning Man community.

So what do we need your help to create?

This year’s sculpture garden is… A place to be kind, a place to feel illuminated, a place to feel no barriers between you and the world, no fear between you and the people around you, and to feel a connection between your heart and your mind, the true meaning of life, the universe, and everything.

A set of 3 sculptures, each independently situated on the playa will invite 3 separate ways of interacting.

Life– represented by Marvin asks “Who do you see in the reflection, do you see differently when the light shines? He will be a giant, multifaceted mirror, playing with reflection and perception and showing you what truly lies within your heart.

The Universe– represented the Starship Bistromath is a holographic sequence of infinity mirrors shifting in color from a golden mirror to almost translucent and expressing the magical phenomena of light. It creates a bursting bubble of color and light and asks you to find your childlike wonder, the place inside you where there are no judgements, only love.

And in the center of Everything – the Heart of Gold and it’s Infinite Improbability Drive will be like a cathedral to the future, standing 20ft tal, juxtaposing rigid geometry with translucent mesh, it will feel like you are flying through the desert on a majestic architectural spaceship….powered by the infinite improbability of kindness…

We want to create a place that shows you that another world is possible, that we all make it spin together.

We are so excited to continue the HYBYCOZO journey with you…

HYBYCOZO Geometric Design

New reward added! Arches print by GBK Photo of Deep Thought

New reward! Photo by GBK Photos

What we learned from last year:

Creating rewards is expensive! We wound up in the red last year after fulfilling and shipping all the rewards. To bring you the best rewards, we have added a bigger percentage of the money contributed into the reward.

Transportation is more difficult that we previously thought! We have to get a very large vehicle because the project is very heavy. After this project – we will be the proud owners of over 10,000 lbs of steel.

Budget for extras. There are things we now know that we need to buy for the project like a magnetic rake and angle grinders.

We’ve still got a long way to go before we can bring this project to life. We still need a minimum of $20,000 to complete the project to get some crucial parts of the sculptures made. If we meet our goal of $20,000 then ~$1500 goes to fees, and $3500 goes to making and shipping the rewards. That leaves us with $15,000 for the project

If we meet our amount, then we have some exciting stretch goals in store for you!

20k Budget Breakdown:

Lighting- $3,000

Laser Cutting and Steel – $7,000

Equipment (crank lift, welder, ladders) – $1,000

Transportation – $4,000

Rewards – $3500

Kickstarter fee – $1500

Want to help with HYBYCOZO?

Share the message!

Have a math loving, geometry breathing, construction minded friend? Send it to them using the share buttons on the side.

Do you want to help build HYBYCOZO in the Bay Area? Sign up on the volunteer list here.

Going to be at Burning man? Come say hi! We will be between 10 and the Temple in the outer playa.

Know of a place that HYBYCOZO wants to live after Burning Man? Let us know! Email us at HYBYCOZO@gmail.com

BIG THANK YOU to our friends and collaborators:

Patrick, Evan, and Julian at 3D SYSTEMS

The awesome team at Mr.Plastics

Afonso Salcedo for the awesome background photos

All of our friends and family for the support!

Risks and challenges

We learned a lot from last year and hope to build on our success. Some of the things we managed last year are:

Laser shop: We have found a great metal shop to work with. We decided to go with them because of their integrity and desire to help us create art.

Materials: This is the first time that we have used acrylic at such a large scale and in the heat. We will be sealing the edges to prevent peeling, but we never know what might happen with using plastic.

Climbing: PLEASE DON’T CLIMB THESE!

Rewards: Since many of the rewards are hand built by us, too many orders would cause a back-log. This may cause a short delay, or potentially let us deliver the rewards even quicker if we can optimize for higher quantities.

Since we have proven each and every reward, there is little getting in the way of completing the Kickstarter with the utmost success. If you have any concerns, suggestions, or improvements, please let us know and we will answer them promptly.